Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Barry Schwartz Ph.D.: The Paradox of Choice

Professor Schwartz assembles his argument from a variety of fields of modern psychology that study how happiness is affected by success or failure of goal achievement. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis. And in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression.

"Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically." —quoted from Ch.5, "The Paradox of Choice", 2004

About EROCx1

EROCx1 was the founding member of CyberlabZ circa 1991. A multimedia collective of artist who produced live visuals, intelligent lighting, laser shows, VR environments, music and DJ’ed many concerts, festivals, raves and other underground gatherings in Southern California. Most memorable events were: K-Rave, Narnia, Circa, FutureWorld, Big Wig Thumper.

EROCx1 has been greatly interested in entheogens and highly active in the psychedelic community since his early involvement in the Rave scene. Participating in gatherings, workshops, retreats along with reading and listening to the works of Dr. Timothy Leary, Terence & Dennis McKenna, Albert Hofmann, Richard Evans Schultes, Ram Dass, R. Gordon Wasson, Ralph Metzner, the Shulgin’s, Dale Pendell, Christian Rätsch, Jonathan Ott, Robert Anton Wilson, Carl A. P. Ruck, Rick Strassmen and many other luminaries of our time.
In 2005 it was time to take his interests in ethnobotany to the next level by founding Gaian Botanicals, which has not only been a success, but has opened many doors to meet some really great people.